Something old, something new: 'Pride and Prejudice' on screen

Why, I once asked students, do you think you should in the twenty-first century be reading Pride and Prejudice, first published in 1813? Too often, the exam answers I'd read seemed to suggest there would be very high-minded replies to such a question, replies to do with Jane Austen's moral insights, the wisdom of choosing marriage partners with care, and the like. Nothing much wrong with that certainly, but it does seem to me that there are few novels which less deserve the stultifying reverence of the 'great classic' treatment - and that might apply to filmmakers as well as students.